Keys to the Kingdom Tour

[cruisehopeful]

What's everyone's opinion on the Keys to the Kingdom tour if we were only going to be at Magic Kingdom park for one day. Does it take up too much of the day? I'm not sure what all we will want to do at MK. I grew up on Disneyland and still visit often. My priorities at MK will be the nostalgic stuff like the Peoplemover, Country Bears, Carousel of Progress and some stuff I haven't had the pleasure of like the Hall of Presidents (if it reopens) and Tron. If we take the 5 hour tour at the beginning of the day, will we still be able to see all the stuff I want to see? It'll be first week in March.

On another note, we're looking at 2 half days and 2 full days. I'm not planning on going to Animal Kingdom this time. Would you consider either Hollywood Studios to be half day or Epcot to be half day? Or, make MK the 2 half days? The first half day will be a little rough as we will be coming in via overnight flight and I predict we'll tire easily.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Mk feels so much bigger than DLR. I havent done the tour so I cant comment on that. HS would be my half day park it can easily be done especially w/ LL. Epcot really depends on how you'd like to do it, if you want to do all rides plus World Showcase a half day isnt enough time. I have now been to Epcot like 5 times and still have not seen/done it all.

 

[byurick]

Agree about HS, it's a half day for me now. Epcot is a full day but thats because I love to just wander around.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Mk feels so much bigger than DLR. I havent done the tour so I cant comment on that. HS would be my half day park it can easily be done especially w/ LL. Epcot really depends on how you'd like to do it, if you want to do all rides plus World Showcase a half day isnt enough time. I have now been to Epcot like 5 times and still have not seen/done it all.

I just looked at Hollywood Studios attractions and it looks like I'm only interested in the Indiana Jones show and the Tower of Terror (for nostalgia). Was there anything else that you enjoyed there? I'm not a Star Wars fan. It looks like a great half day park for me.

I've only been to Epcot once and that was over a decade ago. So, I'm basically going in cold. It's possible that the Flower and Garden festival will be starting. If it is going on, we'll definitely want to do the full day, especially since the parks close kind of early there. So, that leaves me wondering if we'd want to do a full day and a half day there.

Did you think anything was not to miss at MK? I also can't find anything that sounds appetizing there. I know you are vegan. What did you eat there that you liked?

 

[VGCgroupie]

I just looked at Hollywood Studios attractions and it looks like I'm only interested in the Indiana Jones show and the Tower of Terror (for nostalgia). Was there anything else that you enjoyed there? I'm not a Star Wars fan. It looks like a great half day park for me.

I've only been to Epcot once and that was over a decade ago. So, I'm basically going in cold. It's possible that the Flower and Garden festival will be starting. If it is going on, we'll definitely want to do the full day, especially since the parks close kind of early there. So, that leaves me wondering if we'd want to do a full day and a half day there.

Did you think anything was not to miss at MK? I also can't find anything that sounds appetizing there. I know you are vegan. What did you eat there that you liked?

If you have hoppers I would do HS like a 1/4 day then hop to Epcot with whatever time you have left in the day. If you aren't into Star Wars Id say not a whole lot else. Runaway Railway is also at DLR. Slinky is a lowkey roller coaster if you dont like big ones, but the wait is crazy and it might not be worth buying LLMP just for that.

Id say a full an half day at Epcot is a good idea. Mine train is pretty cool too, I love it for its theming. I really like just walking and taking in the scenery at MK. Noticing the differences of MK and DLR. The Rockets are cool at MK vs DLR because they are elevated atop the People Mover. As for food at MK, we haven't ate much there actually, the food at DLR for us was much better than at MK. Epcot has food options galore though.

 

[Steelers0854]

We loved the tour, not sure how often you go to mitigate the impact of the tour on your time there, but I would highly recommend the tour.

 

[PolyRob]

@cruisehopeful I've never actually done Keys to the Kingdom, but I have heard very positive things, especially for those into park history and nostalgia. Hall of Presidents reopened 6/29 so you should be good there. Carousel of Progress had a refurbishment announced at D23, but there was no timeline given.

I love DHS, but I prefer it in the morning since the number of attractions are so limited. It's miserable without a good plan and LLs and the decent stuff goes fast.

Epcot could be a half day park if you're only interested in World Showcase OR only interested in rides. I find it very difficult and tiring to try to cram it all in one day. If you make Epcot your last day you may be ok with F&G. The topiaries are actually put out a little bit before the official opening date so you may even be able to see some of them if the start date isn't 3/1. The food booths won't be open early though. The topiaries are beautiful and Epcot looks it's best during F&G. I personally prefer F&G to F&W. Finding every topiary can easily take half a day if you're leisurely exploring.

What nights will you be staying at a DVC resort? If you have a Monday and a Wednesday you would most likely get extended evening hours for Epcot on Monday and MK on Wednesday. Those two hours can help with rides. All of the Epcot topiaries will not be accessible during extended evening hours. WDW ropes off Norway (Frozen) to France (Ratatouille) so you would miss China, Germany, Italy, America, Japan, and Morocco. The topiaries aren't as nice at night either outside of the main entrance.

 

[cruisehopeful]

@cruisehopeful I've never actually done Keys to the Kingdom, but I have heard very positive things, especially for those into park history and nostalgia. Hall of Presidents reopened 6/29 so you should be good there. Carousel of Progress had a refurbishment announced at D23, but there was no timeline given.

I love DHS, but I prefer it in the morning since the number of attractions are so limited. It's miserable without a good plan and LLs and the decent stuff goes fast.

Epcot could be a half day park if you're only interested in World Showcase OR only interested in rides. I find it very difficult and tiring to try to cram it all in one day. If you make Epcot your last day you may be ok with F&G. The topiaries are actually put out a little bit before the official opening date so you may even be able to see some of them if the start date isn't 3/1. The food booths won't be open early though. The topiaries are beautiful and Epcot looks it's best during F&G. I personally prefer F&G to F&W. Finding every topiary can easily take half a day if you're leisurely exploring.

What nights will you be staying at a DVC resort? If you have a Monday and a Wednesday you would most likely get extended evening hours for Epcot on Monday and MK on Wednesday. Those two hours can help with rides. All of the Epcot topiaries will not be accessible during extended evening hours. WDW ropes off Norway (Frozen) to France (Ratatouille) so you would miss China, Germany, Italy, America, Japan, and Morocco. The topiaries aren't as nice at night either outside of the main entrance.

That's good to hear about Hall of Presidents and that some of the Flower and Garden will be set up. We're staying Sun, Mon and Tues nights. The extra hours at Epcot will be helpful for sure.

 

[WSobchak]

The tour is fantastic, and you should get to ride two classic attractions while on the tour (should be the Jungle Cruise and the Haunted Mansion; I went last year when the Jungle Cruise was down and we went in to see the Tiki Birds instead). You also get lunch at the Columbia Harbour House. You'll have no problem doing the Country Bears, Hall of Presidents, and Carousel of Progress as they will never have a wait beyond waiting for the next show. March weather is pretty nice too so all the walking may not drag you down for the rest of the day if you choose to stay there all day.

If you're tight on time and really want to do Tron get an individual lightning lane or get in line during the parade or fireworks or at park closing; the ride is much better at night.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Ahh yes Jungle Cruise I totally forgot. It’s so different from DLR and deserves a ride. I actually just went in it for the first time last weekend, I always skipped it because I don’t love the DLR one.

 

[Genie+]

Where are you staying?

You could start at HS on Sunday. Then do full day EP on Mon, full day MK Tues, then the half day Wed can be used for the park that felt most in need of more time.

I haven’t tried KTTK yet. Hopefully soon! I think it’ll be worth your time coming from Disneyland. And you could always use Wed if needed to add more time at MK.

 

[Best Aunt]

My random thoughts are:

a) I've done the tour. It's tiring. You're on your feet the whole time. I would not have had the energy to do that plus park hopping in one day. We did the tour first thing in the morning. Afterward, we did a few rides and that was it.

b) The tour was not quite what I expected (although it wouldn't have mattered because as the Best Aunt I was doing it as a gift for my nephew.) I am interested in how the parks run, and decisions made related to that. This tour was more history-related. When we went into the utilidor, we spent all of our time standing in one place while the tour guide described the photos on the wall.

c) Ignore this if you've been to Disney World before:
Getting to and from the Magic Kingdom takes time and energy.
If you're taking a bus from a resort, you may be waiting around awhile for the bus to arrive, and then the ride may take awhile depending on your hotel.
If you're driving or if you're doing uber/lyft/taxi, you park or get dropped off at the Transportation & Ticket Center, and have to take the monorail or ferryboat from there.
If you are coming from another Disney World location (such as a Disney park or hotel), you can take a Minnie Van and it will pick up and drop off at the Magic Kingdom, but it'll cost ya.

 

[Miffy]

I took the tour years ago and really enjoyed it. However, it takes up a lot of your time and as other posters have said, it is tiring. IIRC, we had to get to MK about a half hour before the tour, and then wait until everyone arrived. There's a lot of walking and standing around. Back when I did the tour I believe there was only 1 ride--HM--so except for lunch, there was no chance to sit.

This was pre-pandemic, but when our group did the utilidors, we got a look at a lot of it, as we walked through many of the corridors--and used it as an interesting under-the-park shortcut.

But, OP, unless you and your group have that extra Disney energy (like I do), it might not be such a hot idea to do this tour and also plan to park-hop that same day.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Where are you staying?

You could start at HS on Sunday. Then do full day EP on Mon, full day MK Tues, then the half day Wed can be used for the park that felt most in need of more time.

I haven’t tried KTTK yet. Hopefully soon! I think it’ll be worth your time coming from Disneyland. And you could always use Wed if needed to add more time at MK.

We're staying at the Cascade Cabins because I had a surplus of points.

I like your overall recommendation for park days. It might be worth doing the tour on Wednesday. We're heading to fort Lauderdale in the afternoon/evening and can get there late since we'll just be there to sleep in a hotel before a cruise. I'm just not sure how much energy we'll have since we're starting out on a red eye. Hollywood studios is a good choice for that first day since I don't want to do a lot at that park.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I took the tour years ago and really enjoyed it. However, it takes up a lot of your time and as other posters have said, it is tiring. IIRC, we had to get to MK about a half hour before the tour, and then wait until everyone arrived. There's a lot of walking and standing around. Back when I did the tour I believe there was only 1 ride--HM--so except for lunch, there was no chance to sit.

This was pre-pandemic, but when our group did the utilidors, we got a look at a lot of it, as we walked through many of the corridors--and used it as an interesting under-the-park shortcut.

But, OP, unless you and your group have that extra Disney energy (like I do), it might not be such a hot idea to do this tour and also plan to park-hop that same day.

That's great information. I need to figure out if we want to do it on the last day. We might not have the energy to do it and then get to Fort Lauderdale on the same day. If we were going to kick back at the resort afterwards, it would be easier to do the tour.

 

[VGCgroupie]

We're staying at the Cascade Cabins because I had a surplus of points.

Amazing! So happy for you

 

[disneyseniors]

What's everyone's opinion on the Keys to the Kingdom tour if we were only going to be at Magic Kingdom park for one day. Does it take up too much of the day? I'm not sure what all we will want to do at MK. I grew up on Disneyland and still visit often. My priorities at MK will be the nostalgic stuff like the Peoplemover, Country Bears, Carousel of Progress and some stuff I haven't had the pleasure of like the Hall of Presidents (if it reopens) and Tron. If we take the 5 hour tour at the beginning of the day, will we still be able to see all the stuff I want to see? It'll be first week in March.

On another note, we're looking at 2 half days and 2 full days. I'm not planning on going to Animal Kingdom this time. Would you consider either Hollywood Studios to be half day or Epcot to be half day? Or, make MK the 2 half days? The first half day will be a little rough as we will be coming in via overnight flight and I predict we'll tire easily.

If you only have one full day at the MK, then I would skip it if it's not that important to you.
We took the tour and had to be at the park before park opening. Then the tour lasted up to lunch at Columbia Harbor House, and continued after that. It's been a while and I can't remember exactly when it ended, but I do know it takes up half a day to do. They may have changed it by now, as it was several years ago. Hope this helps you.
I don't regret taking the tour. It was fantastic and filled with a lot of Disney history, if you are into that kind of thing. We got to visit the utilidoors, had back stage entrance to the Haunted Mansion, and behind the scenes areas of the tour just to name a few experiences.